Whales and poets—Two tales of techniques for adapting, enhancing, and fictionalizing acoustic traits

Abstract

Enhancement techniques are employed in two vastly divergent venues in Chicago with the purpose of removing barriers to communication. In the first case, the marine environment scaled to house Beluga whales presents its own acoustical obstacle. In the second, the presence of a microphone can be an obstacle as seen by a poet with a message to share. The Poetry Foundation implemented a voice lift system in a sonorous environment that supports the voice or light amplification, but requires assistance to extend the reach of the unamplified talker. Natural acoustic design, design of traditional public address systems, and the introduction of enhancement techniques are all outlined for these two case studies to illustrate how the roles intersect. Both environments are live in their un-enhanced state. The unusual aspect of these projects is the use of enhancement to increase intelligibility within a naturally reverberant space.